Various prior art cigarette lighter; incorporating safety features are known. Safety features are generally provided to reduce the risk of injury to an operator or bystanders. Safety features for cigarette lighters can be divided into several general categories. Some safety mechanisms prevent ignition of a fuel source unless the lighter is properly oriented. Other mechanisms have been designed to automatically turn off a fuel supply valve. More recently, attention has been directed toward preventing ignition of the lighters by children and other persons normally not able to appreciate the danger of fire. Individuals usually considered in these efforts are young children, age five years and younger.
Some safety mechanisms are designed to prevent children from operating the lighter by blocking movement of the thumb pad or lever typically found in these types of lighters. This block has been carried out by various means. Each of these means have obtained varied levels of success in preventing operation by children.
One method of moving this block in and out of position has been to slide the block substantially horizontally relative to the thumb pad. This way the block is moved to a second position such that the block no longer makes contact with any portion of the thumb pad when the thumb pad is depressed.
However, few of the prior inventions have accomplished this block movement by use of a sliding and locking push button which automatically returns to its initial position. The present invention operates by utilizing a substantially horizontally sliding and locking button employing a retention means which directly receives the slidable block. Most prior art devices employing a sliding block require the user to manually lock the push button by performing vertical as well horizontal movements. Those prior art devices wherein the push button's movement is solely horizontal do not lock the push button in place by use of a retention means which directly receives the slidable block. This invention's push button safety device reduces the potential for use by children by requiring the user to understand the device's method of operation and to be able to apply sufficient force to the push button.